


SuperMax

by queensguardian



Series: SuperMax [1]
Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Character Death, F/F, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-21
Updated: 2016-02-21
Packaged: 2018-05-22 12:24:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6079206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queensguardian/pseuds/queensguardian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if there was a third choice?</p>
            </blockquote>





	SuperMax

                “Max. This is the only way.” Chloe blinks away tears as she hands Max the photo. The first photo that started it all.

                “I feel like I took this shot a thousand years ago.” Max stares at that blue butterfly, a flash of color in an otherwise dreary shot. She steps forward and away from Chloe, unable to face the thought of what Chloe was implicating.

                “You… you could use that photo to change everything right back to when you took that picture.” Chloe’s voice is sharp with emotion, fighting against the storm and against everything her gut was telling her. _It wasn’t supposed to end like this._ “All that would take, is for me to…to…” She can’t finish. She’s surprised she could even start.

                “Fuck that! No…no way! You are my number one priority now. You are all that matters to me.”

                Chloe rolls her eyes. “I know. You’ve proved that over and over again… even when I don’t deserve it. I’m so selfish…not like my mom...Look what she had to give up and go through. And she did,” Chloe’s voice grows stronger with rage. “She deserves so much more than to be killed by a storm in a fucking diner. Even my step…my step-father deserves her alive. There’s so many more people in Arcadia Bay who should live! Way more than me…”

                “Don’t _say that_ ,” Max cuts her off. She can’t stand any more. “I won’t trade you.”

                “You’re not trading me. Maybe you’ve just been delaying my real destiny…Look at how many times I’ve almost died or actually died around you. Look at what’s happening in Arcadia Bay ever since you first saved me. I know I’ve been selfish, but for once I think I should accept my fate…our fate…”

                “Chloe…” Max can’t accept this. It isn’t possible, what Chloe is saying to her. It isn’t real. It can’t be.

                “Max, you finally came back to me this week, and…you did nothing but show me your love, and friendship. You made me smile, and laugh, like I haven’t done in years. Wherever I end up after this…in whatever reality…All those moments between us were real, and they’ll always be ours. No matter what you choose, I know you’ll make the right decision.”

                “Chloe…I can’t make this choice.” Can’t take Chloe’s life in her hands an throw it away, after going through so much just to save her.

                “No, Max,” Chloe’s voice is eerily calm, like she has accepted her fate, whatever it may be. That idea terrifies Max. “You’re the only one who can.”

                Max stares at her, and though the storm rages around them all Max can hear is the ringing in her ears. She shakes her head.

                “Max, it’s time.” Chloe steps forward to squeeze Max’s shoulders.

                “Chloe, I can’t do this. I…I don’t want to do this.”

                “Max, this isn’t about what we want. We have to save everyone, ok? And you’ll make those fuckers pay for what they did to Rachel. Being together this week; it was the best farewell gift I could have asked for.”

                “Well maybe it doesn’t have to be.” Max steps back, and holds the photo up. “I have an idea, and it might not save us all, but I have to try. Chloe, why would the universe give me these powers if it didn’t want me to use them?”

                “I…I don’t know Max. Maybe it didn’t. Maybe it was just some clusterfuck of events that ended up with you getting powers.”

                “But if every action I do using this power leads to the tornado, then maybe I just need to do it all without using the power to change anything!”

                “What are you talking about, Max?”

                “Maybe the universe wanted a life. Maybe it didn’t have to be _your_ life, specifically. But I think the minute the universe gave me these powers, you weren’t meant to die anymore. Chloe, I don’t know if you’re meant to do something incredible when you’re twenty five, or forty, but I don’t think you’re supposed to die yet. Not on Monday, or any of the times either of us fucked up afterward. But…”

                “I really don’t like where you’re going with this, Max.” Chloe looked at her in the rain, her chin wobbling a little. This slip in her courage absolutely broke Max’s heart, but it also strengthened her resolve.

                “I think the universe was telling me, over and over in a million different ways, that I could save you and escape the tornado. The universe needs a life, and we could’ve avoided all of that in the first place if I had done what I should have done to begin with…and stopped Nathan before he got to you. I stood in that bathroom the first time, and I did nothing. I saw the situation escalate…saw the _gun_ …and I didn’t step into action until he fired. Even then it was only a jerk reaction, not any kind of plan, or any kind of bravery on my part. But maybe I am supposed to be brave. Maybe this is whatever gave me those powers trying to teach me to be brave enough to save you. A life for a life.”

                “By doing what, stepping between me and Nathan? What the fuck, Max? Don’t make me lose you again. This isn’t supposed to happen. It’s supposed to me. I know it’s me. We’ve talked about this.”

                “I know, Chlo. I don’t mean to make you upset. But the more I think about this, the more I think I’m right. It needs to be you who lives, not me.” Max feels tears stream down her face, but she isn’t afraid. She’s desperately, hopelessly sad, but not afraid. She is so sure now, that this is supposed to happen.

                “Oh, yeah? And what if you’re wrong, Max. Did you fucking think about that? You die, like you think the Universe wants you to, and you’re wrong. The tornado comes anyway, and we’re all dead for your mistake.” Chloe steps forward, voice rising with every word, and shoves her a little. Not strong enough to hurt, but forcefully enough to make her stumble a bit.

                “I’m not wrong, Chloe. I know it. I’m sorry. I’m only doing this because I love you—”

                “Well I love you too, you fucking—how can you do this? You will leave me alone in that other universe again. And I won’t have the memories that you would if I died. Max, this is so unfair. I won’t remember any of this. No one will. I can’t let you do this.”

                Max grabs at Chloe’s hands, and pulls her close. “Chloe, it’s worth it. You’re worth it. I choose you every time.” She moves her hands up Chloe’s arms and to her face, cupping her frozen cheeks.

                “Please don’t do this, Max. I love you.” Chloe’s voice was almost too quiet to hear over the storm, but Max knew.

                “I love you so much, Chloe. We’ll always have this timeline. We’ll always have this week. And you’re so strong. You’ll get through this, I know you will. You’re destined for great things, Chloe Price.”

                Chloe closes her eyes for a moment, and wraps her arms around Max so tightly it’s hard to breathe, but Max squeezes back just as tightly. They pull back a little, and their lips meet, finally. It isn’t a sweet first kiss. It feels like a release of all the tension built up from the last week and maybe the last five years. Max’s hands move into her hair, and she moves her mouth against Chloe’s with the force to try and convey as much of her love as she possibly can. This is goodbye, after all.

                When they separate reluctantly, Max buries her face in Chloe’s shoulder.

                “I’m sorry, Max. Sorry for all the shit I said. The shit I did.”

                “Oh God, Chloe, I’m sorry too. I left you. I was so afraid, I didn’t call you. I just couldn’t…”

                “It doesn’t matter now. Ha,” Chloe lets out a strangled laugh, and holds Max tighter. “It really, really doesn’t matter.”

                Max stays there, in Chloe’s arms for another minute, wishing it could be forever. But the storm doesn’t end, and it won’t until she fixes it. So she pulls away, squeezing Chloe’s hand, and looks at the photograph. As it comes into focus, she squeezes Chloe’s hand so tightly it probably hurts, and she can feel Choe squeezing back.

                The picture finally comes into focus, and she lets out the breath she’s been holding as everything fades to white. The feeling of Chloe’s hand in hers lingers the longest.

                _Snap._ The camera clicks, and the picture of the butterfly comes into focus. Max puts it, and the camera in her bag. She takes a steady breath and leans against the bathroom stall.

                “Ok. You can do this. It’ll be ok.” She squeezes her trembling fingers, determined not to use her power, even by accident.

                Nathan appears, looking pale and stressed. “It’s cool, Nathan…Don’t stress…You’re okay, bro. Just count to three…” After everything that had happened, Max could only bring herself to feel pity for him. “Don’t be scared…You own this school… If I wanted, I could blow it up…You’re the Boss…”

 Maybe in prison he would get the help he needed. Maybe he’d be able to plead insanity. She doubts his father would be able to get him off of this one.

                Chloe opens the door, wearing that hard expression that she uses to defend herself. Chloe, Chloe, _Chloe_.

“I hope you checked the perimeter, as my step-ass would sat. Now, let’s talk bidness—“ She slams the bathroom stall doors, and Max jumps a little each time. She has to get the timing right for this or it wouldn’t work.

“I got nothing for you.” Nathan’s voice has lost its nervousness since Chloe came in, but Max knows he’s still just as scared as he always has been.

“Wrong. You got hella cash.”

“That’s my family, not me.”

“Oh boo hoo, poor little rich kid. I know you been pumpin’ drugs n’ shit to kids around here…” Max can feel the tension in the room build. Nathan turns his face away, and Max clenches her hands into fists. “I bet your respectable family would help me out if I went to them. Man, I can see the headlines now.”

“Leave, them _out_ of this, bitch.”

“I can tell everybody Nathan Prescott is a punk ass who begs like a little girl and talks to himself—”

This is it. Nathan pulls out the gun. Max steadies herself for the exact moment she will leap into action. She feels her heart jump into her throat, beating as hard as it can, as if to tell her _live, live live_ but she needs to do this. This is the only way she can save Chloe and the town.

“You don’t know who the fuck I am or who you’re messing around with!” Nathan steps forward, and their posturing shifts; now Chloe is the one being cornered, and Nathan’s hurt and anger builds up and up, like he’s been waiting for the right moment to let out his hurt and anger and fear for ages.

“Where’d you get that? What are you doing? Come on, put that thing down!” They are pressed together against the wall, and Max lets out a long breath.

“Don’t EVER tell me what to do. I’m so SICK of people trying to control me!”

“You are going to get in hella more trouble for this than drugs—”

“Nobody would ever even miss your “punk ass” would they?”

Max steps out from behind the stall, hands shaking as she stumbles forward. “Nathan! Get away from her!”

Nathan spins around to face Max, eyes wild, and his finger squeezes the trigger.

The force with which the bullet hits her feels almost like when she traveled back too far in time, only this time it is accompanied a moment later by the most excruciating pain she’s ever felt. She falls back, slamming onto the ground with a harsh ringing in her ears and the cold tile under her back. The pain branches out from the black hole in her side and spreads through her whole body.

When everything comes back into focus, Chloe is there, cradling her head and pulling her onto her lap. Nathan is sitting in the corner, rocking back and forth with his head in his hands, and the gun lies forgotten beside him.

“M-max? What are you doing here? Why did you do that?” Chloe’s chin wobbles; any trace of faux-bravado gone from her voice.

“Chloe.” It is hard to talk, through the pain, but she has to tell Chloe something before it is too late. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t call you. I was scared things wouldn’t be the same.”

Chloe presses into the wound on Max’s ribcage, trying to keep pressure on it. “It doesn’t matter. You’re back now, Max! Don’t leave me again. Please.”

Tears spill into Max’s hair, but she doesn’t feel them. It is getting hard to feel anything, actually. “I’m sorry Chlo. It was Jefferson. He did this to Rachel. She’s…in the Junkyard.”

Chloe lets out a little breath, and Max can feel the wave of Chloe’s emotions wash over her. “Max. What are you saying?”

“She didn’t make it, Chloe. She’s behind the bus, under the Crab shop sign.”

“I…I don’t believe you. How do you know?” Chloe brushes the hair out of Max’s face with her free hand, and Max can see it trembling.

“I just do. Promise you’ll believe me, Chloe—” she brings a hand up to touch Chloe’s face. “Promise. Nathan will crack now; he’s working with Jefferson. Go to your step-father. Tell him. He’ll believe you. He loves you.”

Flicking her tongue between her lips, Chloe’s eyes change rapidly from worry to anger to fear, as she darts them over to Nathan and back again. But he is no threat to anyone now. He is broken. “How do you…I promise, Max. I believe you. Even if it means…she’s gone.”

Chloe’s makeup trails down her face with her tears, but her eyes never leave Max’s. Max runs her hands through Chloe’s hair; feels the soft strands and the way they trail off roughly at the base of her skull.

“I’m so tired, Chloe. So tired. I wish I could tell you…everything that’s happened this week.” It’s becoming harder to keep her eyes open, and Max feels the numbness spreading out to the tips of her fingers.

“No, Max. Don’t you dare. Help is coming. Stay awake. Stay _with_ me.” Chloe shakes her a little, but Max doesn’t feel it.

“Can’t. I haven’t slept in… a long time. Just a while.”

“ _No._ Don’t fucking do this to me. I can’t do this again. I don’t know how I’ll make it.”

Max opens her eyes at that. She can’t hold her hands up anymore, but she shakes her head a little, struggling with raspy breaths. “You have to. I love you, Chloe. More than you’ll ever know. Survive, please. For me. For your dad. For Rachel.”

Chloe tightens her hold on Max, and lets out a sob as her former best friend lets out a long, exhausted sigh, and is finally gone.

The doctors arrive, along with police, and firemen. The school is locked down and Nathan is taken into custody. Chloe is pulled aside to give her statement and the blood and makeup dries on her face. Her step-father frantically embraces her, and tears run down his face as Chloe holds him back as hard as she can. They find Rachel where Chloe says, and where Nathan confirms.

Nathan breaks down when they interview him; he didn’t want to hurt anyone, he says, he just wanted something for himself.

Jefferson is arrested, and they find the binders, and it is settled, and the town relaxes back into its natural state of lazy limbo.

When they bury Max on Friday afternoon, Chloe stands at her casket with Max’s parents barely keeping it together next to her, and Chloe sees a butterfly-the same butterfly from the one in Max’s picture. The one Chloe found in Max’s things and kept, rather than give it to Max’s parents, because she is a shit person and this is the only thing she might ever have of Max’s again.

The butterfly flutters down and onto the casket, and its blue wings contrast starkly with the darkness of the wood. Chloe stares at it, and it feels like she is forgetting something important. She feels a sense of warmth and love fill her up, and it’s like Max is right there, holding her hand. As that feeling passes through her, memories slam against her mind like a tidal wave. She remembers dying, and living, and Max saving her over, and over and over again. She remembers breaking into the pool and the feeling of jealousy when she thought Max was going out with Warren. She remembers daring Max to kiss her and Max actually _doing_ it, and she remembers dragging Max up to the cliff’s edge and asking Max to kill her.

But she didn’t. She came here and sacrificed herself instead. Chloe gasps, and steps back and away from the casket, but she can’t leave. Max’s parents don’t even notice, but Joyce is next to her in a moment, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

Chloe lets out long, gasping breaths, and she feels like the dam has finally broken. It is over and Max is gone forever, because Chloe doesn’t have rewind superpowers and she can’t be a hero.

The butterfly flashes its blue wings and comes up to fly in front of Chloe, and she feels that warmth again, as if Max is right there. They’ll always have that week. Chloe knows it and knows that Max did what she had to, but she can’t help that awful selfish feeling that everyone she has ever loved has abandoned her. As she cries, Joyce tightens her hold and brushes her hand through Chloe’s hair, and she turns to press her face against her mother’s shoulder.

Even through this awful pain, Chloe feels the incredible, overwhelming feeling that she is so _alive._ She can taste the life in the air, and feel it in her lungs and her heart, and she is so grateful, so relieved, and even though Max isn’t here it feels like she is present and soothing Chloe’s fears and her rage like always. She hugs Joyce as tight as she can, and feels something that’s been tight inside her for so long start to relax.

The wind breezes through green trees and bring the salty scent of the ocean through the town. Chloe feels the sun beat down warmly on the crowd attending Max’s funeral, and the butterfly flits its wings and disappears into the woods. It is over.

**Author's Note:**

> So my idea behind this was that in a game where the whole point is the decisions you make impacting everything, it really doesn't make sense for there to be only two choices for the ending. I love this game but I really would have liked to see more of your choices impacting the endings. This is the first in a series of exploring other possible endings, and other possible choices Max could have made throughout the game. This is also the most depressing ending, I assure you. The other/s will be much more cheerful.


End file.
